Lower Canada, containing about 10,000,000 English statute acres, or 12,000,000 French arpents; but when the barren island of Anticosti, the stubborn territory of Mille Vaches, Labrador, and the useless lands in the rear of the Côte de Beaupré, &c. are deducted, there are not more than 6,000,000 acres fit for cultivation within the seigniories and fiefs, for an actual resident population of, in 1831, 513,000 Canadians of French race, beside others. The French Canadians may now (1833) be estimated at not less than 550,000.*

The lands granted in free and common soccage, being the freehold tenure of England, in the 160 townships laid out or projected, amount to about 3,000,000; the remaining quantity, about 3,300,000, consists, first, of the one seventh of each township laid out in ranges among the grants, for clergy reserves, equal to 900,000 acres, and the like quantity of 900,000 acres reserved for government purposes; leaving 1,500,000 acres in the townships still ungranted.t

Of

The townships are generally laid out in blocks of about 9 by 12 miles, and contain (more or less, according to their boundaries,) 62,000 to 67,000 acres, Each township is laid out in 308 lots of about 73 chains by 29 chains, containing each 200 acres. the 308 lots, 88 are reserved for the clergy and the crown: a great impediment to the settlement of the country; and which, if not discontinued, will form causes of difficulty that will completely defeat the objects of the government.

The remaining lands in the province may be either granted in seigniories, fiefs, or in common soccage. Nor can the government act more judiciously than to grant lands, in future tenures, agreeably to the seigniorial tenures, if that mode should be recommended by the provincial parliament.

Large tracts of the best lands in the province are neglected by the grantees, who have not fulfilled the provisions of settlement. Many of these were granted to men called leaders. A leader was a person who, having settled on these lands, applied and received a patent, agreeably to the royal instructions of 1796, for himself and 39 associates, of 1200 acres of land each; but the leader generally contrived to secure 1000 acres of that granted to each of his associates.

From the foregoing calculations it will appear, although a great portion of the townships is without inhabitants, and the reserves not cultivated nor settled, that, with the exception of the district of Gaspè, the best part of which is claimed by the Americans, there is very little good land, exclusive of the townships, now to be granted in Lower Ca

nada.

By the imperial act of 6 Geo. IV. provision for establishing a court of escheat is made. I believe no forfeitures have been declared; nor does the court, properly speaking, exist in operation.

The same act, generally called the Tenure Act, to provide for the extinction of feudal and seigniorial rights, and burdens on lands held à titre de fief, and d titre de cens, in the province of Lower Canada, and for the gradual conversion of these tenures into the tenure of free and common soccage, and for other purposes, declares,

1. Persons holding fiefs or seigniories may, on application to his Majesty, and on surrender of the ungranted parts thereof, obtain a commutation and release of feudal burdens due to his Majesty.

2. Such a fief or seigniory may be regranted to the proprietor in free and common soccage.

3. Feudal and seigniorial rights, on the granted parts of such seigniory, not to be affected until a commutation thereof shall be obtained.

4. Persons holding in fief, and obtaining a commutation as aforesaid, shall be bound to grant the like commutation to those holding under them, if required; for such price or indemnity as may be fixed by experts.

5. Such commutation being voluntarily agreed upon, or awarded by a court of law, all feudal rights shall cease, and the tenure be held in free and common soccage, and be subject to the laws of England.

The laws of Canada are in many respects good: they bear a resemblance to those of Scotland; and, if no conflicting usages be introduced, they might operate in Canada much in the same way as the Scottish laws do in Scotland.

CHAP. XIII.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. - PUBLIC OFFICES, ETC.

THE revenue of Lower Canada amounts to about 140,000l., exclusive of an allowance for duties to Upper Canada. It arises principally from impost duties on articles of luxury, and partly from his Majesty's rents, which consist of the droit de quint, depending in amount on the frequency and value of the mutation of fiefs; of the rents of the King's posts at Saguenay, Port Neuf, &c., and let as stations for the fur trade; of the rents of the royal forges at St. Maurice; of the monies arising from the Jesuits' estates, &c.

The public accounts for the year 1829 produced the following statement:

The gross receipts of duties, &c., without any

Net income paid into the Province Treasury £143,891 7 104

Further expenses of collection and repay

£109,294 1 104

Net available income of the province for the year 1829

The increase over last year is £15,194 5s. 3d.

In 1807, the gross revenue amounted to only 31,000l. In 1829, the House of Assembly voted 35,000l. for the improvement of roads alone. The revenue is appropriated by the legislature to the payment of the civil list, the execution of public works, to the encouragement of education, agriculture, trade, &c.*

The principal officers of government are the governor-general, lieutenant-governor, chief-justice of Canada and of Quebec; chief-justice of Montreal, six puisne judges, judge of Three Rivers, provincial judge of Gaspè, provincial judge of St. Francis, attorney-general, solicitor-general, judge of the court of vice-admiralty, receiver-general, provincial secretary and registrar, civil secretary to the governor, auditor-general of accounts, inspector-general of accounts, surveyor-general, the officers of the Executive and Legislative Councils and House of Assembly; French translator to the governor, printers to the government, masters and clerks in chancery, inspector-general of the King's domain, and clerk of the land roll, auditor of land patents; grand voyers of the province, or chief inspectors of roads, &c., one for each district; postmaster-general, inspector-general of the King's domain, commissioner for the sale and management of crown lands, superintendent of emigrants and settlers in the Canadas; commissioner of roads throughout the province, commissioners for the improvement of internal navigation, commissioner for the erection and repairing of public buildings, commissioners for exploring the country, and commissioners for the management of the Je

* This appropriation, and the expenses of the civil government for 1832, will appear in the general summary, at the end of this volume.